Merging a minimal brand update with a minimalist cafe design
Crate47 undertook a brand refresh for Eis Cafe, with print and website design in conjunction with Liqui who created a new cafe interior design. In contrast to their over-the-top cakes and extravagant desserts, the client wanted their cafe branding to remain stripped-back to tie in with the interior, which was quite minimalistic, even brutalist in concept, with exposed concrete being a key feature. With Crate47 and Liqui working closely together in this way we can offer our clients a greater synergy between their branding and interior design, whether it’s for a cafe as in this case, a coffee shop, a restaurant, or any other commercial environment that would benefit from an environmental branding approach.
We delivered: Brand refresh | Sub branding | Brand pattern | Website design | Print design
Our branding refresh created a unified visual identity
For the Eis Cafe brand refresh, the client wanted us to consolidate their visual identity in a way that would not break the continuity between the old and the new branding. This led us to make a very subtle change to the existing logo design by altering the weight of the words EIS and CAFE to make a more significant differentiation between the two. The idea was to strengthen the look of the cafe branding without alienating existing customers who already loved the brand. We wanted the brand update to offer the client greater flexibility too. With this in mind, we created a new marque with two variations: one with EIS knocked out of a solid circle, and one with it set in a heavy circular outline. This gave the cafe branding more scope for a variety of applications within print and online usage.
Our new brand pattern was used throughout the print design
To complete the Eis Cafe brand refresh we developed a simple repeat dot pattern to compliment both the written logo design and the marques we created. We then applied the new brand pattern throughout our print design where appropriate on a variety of items such as business cards, stickers, packaging, and menu design. In addition to our design for print, we also created a new web design for Eis Cafe that is heavy on visual content to showcase their extraordinary desserts.
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Subtle environmental branding that effectively brings brand and interior together
Liqui applied a minimalist aesthetic to the dessert cafe design. This was achieved by using clean lines, rectangular shapes, and a limited selection of materials such as wood, metal, and concrete. Between dining areas, wooden screens echoed our brand pattern with a simple tight repeat of perforated squares. And Crate47’s brand refresh was further incorporated into the interior by subtly embossing the updated logo design into the concrete counter and walls in just a few specific places. Liqui’s branded interiors often employ his fairly low-key approach to branding and demonstrate how brand elements can be intelligently integrated into a commercial interior design without dominating it.
